The Procussions Interview

Colorado.

They formed in the late 1990s, when members of two rival b-boy crews decided to squash beef and make changes in the local music scene. Five years later, they find themselves touring Europe, on various bills alongside UK talent like Ty and Dizzee Rascal.

DJ Stro leads the group with influences ranging from right the way from Nas to Steely Dan. Alongside him is lyricist J, who has earned props throughout the Rocky Mountains by dominating underground emcee battles. Completing the trio is the velvety-voiced Resonant. Their mission is to bring their own independent and spiritual sound to the masses.

So how are you guys finding Europe?

J: "We've just come from doing ten dates in France. The French hiphop scene is dope, but I think after a while it's been good to hang out with some people that speak English too. We really want people to listen to our lyrics, and though I'm sure people still appreciate it, it felt really good to rap on stage and feel that people were understanding it."

How would you describe the Procussions style?

J: "A lot of people ask us that question and it's always better described by someone looking at you. So far people have said that we are a little reminiscent of the '93 age of hiphop, which we look at as being the golden era for us. We grew up in that age and it was a real feelgood vibe. We want people to leave our shows feeling empowered."

Res: "One of the good things that people often say about us is that it's kind of refreshing to go up there and see a group give it so much passion. We're doing this independently, off our own backs and we put in a lot of work. That's a good thing, particularly in the independent scene that is growing now."

Strobe: "Anytime that you're working with three individuals such as us, we're all very different. The way we work is that if you take one of us out it won't be the Procussions sound any more. Everybody has out-there ideas and wants to experiment. This is all well and good, but my job is to create the focus and keep it in line."

Colorado?

Res: "Colorado has a very strong hiphop scene right now. It's basically like anywhere else. It's funny, you travel across the whole world and even though people speak different languages a lot still reminds you of home. Colorado has a lot of good graffiti writers and a lot of good dj's. The thing that's wrong is that like a lot of small cities the powers-that-be don't really support their own talent so, like us, artists have to go elsewhere to really make it."

I understand that there used to be five of you?

Res: "We actually used to be six people. We had a DJ called Vodra, who is still all over the album. He's the official DJ for the Procussions, but he lives in Colorado and is about to get married, so he couldn't make the trip out here with us. He's very serious about what he does though and took third in World DMC last year."

J: "We had another guy called Vice-Versa from Due Process. He lives out in LA with us and is on the album too. We also had a guy called Q, who is on the album. He fell sick when he was diagnosed with MS so he couldn' come on tour. There's a track towards the end of our album where he's rapping when he was completely healthy. He also does a spoken word piece at the very end of Water Edge where you can start to hear his sickness in there. He's still a big part of the Procussions. Anytime that he feels that can stand up and emcee again he'll be back in the crew."

Is it true that you're all religious?

J: "We're all Christians. I think being brought up in the middle of nowhere it gave us a new perspective on it all. We don't label ourselves as gospel though or `holy hiphop' or whatever. I don't want to make fun of anybody, but we don't ever want to be labelled as that. We have beliefs and we make hiphop music and that's the bottom line."

Do you know much about the UK scene?

Strobe: "We're learning. We did a show with Dizee Rascal and it was crazy! He did two shows in the States and we got to supported him in LA. We've been enjoying seeing Ty perform as well.."

Bound by a love of early 90's hiphop and a drive to produce sophisticated, spiritually minded music, The Procussions are a trio of emcee-musicians hailing from the rocky mountains of

Is there a big hiphop scene back home in